Stanley's Story; Or, Through the Wilds of Africa: A Thrilling Narrative of His Remarkable Adventures, Terrible Experiences, Wonderful Discoveries and Amazing Achievements in the Dark ContinentFeather, A. G., Col.
History
Stanley's Story; Or, Through the Wilds of Africa: A Thrilling Narrative of His Remarkable Adventures, Terrible Experiences, Wonderful Discoveries and Amazing Achievements in the Dark Continent
Feather, A. G., Col.
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Livingstone, David, 1813-1873; Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton), 1841-1904
every available space in the vicinity of the grave was occupied, and
there were persons even in the clerestory.
“Five minutes past one, Dean Stanley, in his full robes, with a purple
cap on his head, and the red ribbon of the Order of the Bath, of which
he is chaplain, round his neck, is standing at the door of the west
nave, attended by the Sub-Dean and Canons, waiting for the body. Now we
see the procession slowly filing through the cloisters.
“First come the silver mace-bearers, then the choristers, then the
coffin, of brightly polished oak, in which the metal shells have been
enclosed. On the brass plate is the inscription,
DAVID LIVINGSTONE,
Born at Blantyre, Lanarkshire, Scotland,
19th March, 1813.
Died at Mullala, Central Africa,
4th May, 1873.
and the lid is covered with wreaths of white camellias and branches of
palm.”
The solemn and impressive service of the English Church was effectively
conducted by Dean Stanley, assisted by the Sub-Dean and Canons; it was
choral throughout. The entire effect was grand in its solemn intensity.
The grave is in the centre of the west part of the nave, in close
proximity to those of Telford and Stephenson, the engineers, Sir James
Outram and General Wade, the soldiers, and other men of eminence in
various lines of service. It is in a spot cheered with sunshine, and
during the funeral service it was illumined with a ray of sunlight
which, passing through the superb stained-glass memorial window erected
to the memory of Brunel, the engineer of the Thames Tunnel and the
Saltash Viaduct, had a fine effect. The grave is shallow, owing to the
fact that the soil is too sandy to admit of digging deep.
The words “Dust to dust, ashes to ashes” having been pronounced and the
service closed, the people dispersed slowly and with a solemnity that
seemed to betoken a sense of personal loss.
One fact was evident throughout all the doings of the three days, from
the time of the landing at Southampton, to the close of the ceremonies
in Westminster Abbey--and that was that the deceased explorer-missionary
had won the respect, the esteem, nay, the love, of all classes, from the
Royal household to the humblest of the people.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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